Objective

The NanoComposite Materials workshop at the CANEUS 2006 Conference in Toulouse, France, addressed the creation of a business case for an advanced nano/bio-sensor fabrication platform using “Fountain Pen” Nanolithography, based on Scanning Probe Lithography (SPL). This novel Nanolithography technique is a flexible and cost-effective method for integrating microfluidics with nano-fabrication, thus combining both top-down and bottom-up paradigms. The sensor components can be made up of soft materials (e.g., bio-polymers, functional molecules, etc.) and hard materials (e.g., metals, opto-electronic materials, etc.). This concept addresses a critical need for aerospace systems, namely for rapid materials and devices prototyping at nano-scales, and will lead to rapid adoption by the aerospace industry once successfully demonstrated.